Deconstructing Facebook

Friday, September 18, 2009

The announcement this week that Facebook had turned cash-flow positive (not profitable) generated a lot of buzz that I don’t need to contribute to. However, it did remind me that I’ve been confused about the term “fan pages” ever since the new corporate pages were announced in March. No one, at that time, was using the term fan pages. It probably came into general use because brands want consumers to “fan them”— or maybe it was just to confuse me!

In any event, fan pages were introduced to give businesses an alternative to the existing groups pages. This chart from Search Engine Journal gives a good comparison. The conclusion that groups pages are better for discussions and fan pages better for long-term relationship building is important. If you are thinking about building a fan page, or you want to assess your existing one, here’s a good post from Carnet Williams at iMediaConnection.

eMarketer (September 17, 2009) had some good charts on current Facebook growth. Last month it was highest among young males, but followed pretty closely by middle-aged men and middle-aged and older women. The demographics of Facebook remain young, but older groups have been gaining steadily in recent months. If a Facebook page is an important part of your marketing strategy, you might want to follow Inside Facebook, which keeps up with these developments.That reminds me—I need to find a young friend on Facebook and congratulate her on her recent engagement. Such is life in the world of the connected—of all ages! Are you making it easy for your customers (actual and potential) to stay connected with your brand?